Any archery moms here?

[Alessandra]

Ds 14 just got his first bow, a 62" recurve with a 28 lb draw for target practice. He uses 30" arrows, if that makes any difference. We also got a 32"x32" target for practice at home.

 

My question is -- how do you cope with arrows missing the target? At first, ds had the target on an old kid's wagon that he put in the open door of the garage. But when he shot into the garage, some things (just storage boxes) got hit. So I would like to take this outside, into our small suburban back yard. What should I put behind the target? I don't want to lose (any more) arrows and, obviously, I don't want arrows to go into neighbors' yards. 

 

Actually, I would be interested in anything you all have to say about youth archery. Ds has his Boy Scout archery merit badge, and he is going to join a local archery club (adult, I think) next week. The club maintains an archery range a local (45 min away) park. Is there anything else ds should be doing?

[Mango]

Missing arrows have a way of showing up again--days or months later. :)) They mow the grass behind their "shooting range" to help finding them. It also helps that they're motivated. They each have 3 arrows. You find them and shootem or you spend your time hunting for them. They help each other out. 

 

Hunting season is approaching.... I'm sure there will be the buying of many arrows before it closes.  :lol: But they'll have their allowance for that. They each got a hunting bow this year when Daddy got his cross bow. 

 

We shoot through 4H. Every year the 4H county extension sets up six week, bi-weekly archery & pellet gun class for the kids. They go in and shoot arrows and have a mini tournament, by age and bow type (bare bow or sighted). My son won first place in the bare bow for 3-5th graders this year. 

 

This is over there's another 4H sponsored archery thing, it's outdoors and they walk a course shooting targets. It's a tournament too but we haven't done it yet. 

 

At the county fair there's another archery tournament. My daughter got a blue ribbon in bare bow in the senior class this year! 

 

 

In addition to 4H there are archery clubs through your local archery stores. Archery stores have shooting ranges and that's what my DH is planning to do this winter. 

 

Archery is a fun obsession. 

 

[Chris in VA]

Well, this is more of a bump, but...

Dd loves her bow and arrows. I forget how much draw, but it's pretty substantial. She has to use an arm guard.

We live in the woods, so we just shoot right into the forest. She's constantly losing arrows. I imagine you could put up a large sheet of plywood behind your target. Is he usually off by much? I'd be extremely careful if there's the possibility of arrows going into another yard where they could hurt a kid or pet (which goes without saying, of course...) I'd probably just take him to the range for most of the time until his accuracy is really good.

We have a rule that all pets must be inside and she has to tell us when she's practicing.

 

Hope you have fun with it--dd loves it!

 

[Haiku]

Make sure you check with your local gov't. Shooting bows outside is illegal where we live.

[Mandylubug]

We shoot outside and had arrows with neon orange ends. Next arrows we've already decided we will spray paint entire arrow neon green. We have an acre of land in our backyard so we don't have to worry about other houses.

[NotSoObvious]

My girls shoot an an indoor archery range. They've been taking a weekly lesson with some other homeschoolers since January. They really love it. 

[hillfarm]

You can buy specialized netting to put behind your target that is designed to prevent arrows from being lost. You might be able to find a big, heavy tarp that would also work. Another option would be to purchase 6 square bales of hay and arrange them behind your target. This will catch a lot of the strays.

 

Be sure that the shafts and fletchings of your arrows are a bright color that contrasts well with the ground in your area.

 

And encourage your DC to do a good job of follow through after they have released the arrow, and to try to see exactly where it lands. If you need to, you can even put up markers of various colors so that they can remember that their second arrow landed in the blue zone, for example.

[Vida Winter]

Indoor 4H range. I wouldn't shoot outdoors in a suburban setting. My kids have enjoyed archery for years - have fun!

[Slartibartfast]

Dd does weekly archery through a local homeschooling co-op. They use an indoor range.

 

At home we have a tall wooden fence, we haven't had anything go sailing over yet...I am hoping that won't happen. :lol:

[Desert Rat]

My ds11 is an archer, although he uses a compound bow. 

We have a 20 yard lane in our backyard. We are lucky to have a wall backing up to the end. I recommend lots of practice. :P  Ds rarely misses anymore. Instead, he Robin Hoods the arrows, which is sometimes worse. It ruins one, if not both, of the arrows. (Robin Hooding is knocking one arrow with the other. They have special ends that prevent damage, if we remember to buy them.) He has changed the type of target he uses to prevent it. 

There are some pretty inexpensive bales at Bass Pro, if there's one in your area. Or there are several you tube videos that show how you can make your own out of rags, cardboard, foam, etc. 

Ds also shoots on a team through a JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development) program at a local archery shop. Fees vary, but we pay quarterly and the fee includes range fees for that quarter. He competes in 4-6 competitions a year.

Archery has been a great sport for us! 

 

[msrift]

My sons are interested in doing more archery this school year. They've all done starter classes through the local park and rec department and more advanced classes through 4H. This school year they are going to participate in the twice a month 4H program and perhaps the archery in the schools team for homeschoolers. I'd love to get them lessons through a local archery place but our schedule is jam-packed as it is. The kids got the Genesis bow for Christmas, but I think we're going to have to get one for each of them.

We have 5 acres so any pointers on setting up a safe archery range would be welcome. (Love the idea of getting a couple of bales of hay. Don't know why I didn't think of that earlier.  :tongue_smilie: )

[Alessandra]

Missing arrows have a way of showing up again--days or months later. :)) They mow the grass behind their "shooting range" to help finding them. It also helps that they're motivated. They each have 3 arrows. You find them and shootem or you spend your time hunting for them. They help each other out. 

 

Hunting season is approaching.... I'm sure there will be the buying of many arrows before it closes.  :lol: But they'll have their allowance for that. They each got a hunting bow this year when Daddy got his cross bow. 

 

We shoot through 4H. Every year the 4H county extension sets up six week, bi-weekly archery & pellet gun class for the kids. They go in and shoot arrows and have a mini tournament, by age and bow type (bare bow or sighted). My son won first place in the bare bow for 3-5th graders this year. 

 

This is over there's another 4H sponsored archery thing, it's outdoors and they walk a course shooting targets. It's a tournament too but we haven't done it yet. 

 

At the county fair there's another archery tournament. My daughter got a blue ribbon in bare bow in the senior class this year! 

 

 

In addition to 4H there are archery clubs through your local archery stores. Archery stores have shooting ranges and that's what my DH is planning to do this winter. 

 

Archery is a fun obsession. 

 

I will have to check 4H. One local store has a shooting club, but ds does need one more scheduled thing. They store has an indoor range, but when I visited -- last year -- they were very evasive about who could use it.

 

Make sure you check with your local gov't. Shooting bows outside is illegal where we live.

 

Og, gosh, I had better do this. I hope shooting onto the garage is ok, but maybe not.

 

You can buy specialized netting to put behind your target that is designed to prevent arrows from being lost. You might be able to find a big, heavy tarp that would also work. Another option would be to purchase 6 square bales of hay and arrange them behind your target. This will catch a lot of the strays.

 

Be sure that the shafts and fletchings of your arrows are a bright color that contrasts well with the ground in your area.

 

And encourage your DC to do a good job of follow through after they have released the arrow, and to try to see exactly where it lands. If you need to, you can even put up markers of various colors so that they can remember that their second arrow landed in the blue zone, for example.

 

I thought of hay/straw bales -- that is what de's scoutmaster suggested. But then I thought of them getting wet and moldy… I will look into the other ideas.

 

Well, this is more of a bump, but...

Dd loves her bow and arrows. I forget how much draw, but it's pretty substantial. She has to use an arm guard.

We live in the woods, so we just shoot right into the forest. She's constantly losing arrows. I imagine you could put up a large sheet of plywood behind your target. Is he usually off by much? I'd be extremely careful if there's the possibility of arrows going into another yard where they could hurt a kid or pet (which goes without saying, of course...) I'd probably just take him to the range for most of the time until his accuracy is really good.

We have a rule that all pets must be inside and she has to tell us when she's practicing.

 

Hope you have fun with it--dd loves it!

 

Ds is actually quite accurate. One of the stray arrows was actually when I tried the bow, lol. Plywood we have.

 

My ds11 is an archer, although he uses a compound bow. 

 

We have a 20 yard lane in our backyard. We are lucky to have a wall backing up to the end. I recommend lots of practice. :p  Ds rarely misses anymore. Instead, he Robin Hoods the arrows, which is sometimes worse. It ruins one, if not both, of the arrows. (Robin Hooding is knocking one arrow with the other. They have special ends that prevent damage, if we remember to buy them.) He has changed the type of target he uses to prevent it. 

 

There are some pretty inexpensive bales at Bass Pro, if there's one in your area. Or there are several you tube videos that show how you can make your own out of rags, cardboard, foam, etc. 

 

Ds also shoots on a team through a JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development) program at a local archery shop. Fees vary, but we pay quarterly and the fee includes range fees for that quarter. He competes in 4-6 competitions a year.

 

Archery has been a great sport for us! 

 

 

 

Probably a little premature for JOAD, but thanks for the heads up. I did not know about it.

 

On Monday, the local archery club has its meeting. I'll ask what other people do. I hope ds can do some practice at home. I am trying to move away from chauffeur-wait-chauffeur.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

We have bags of peatmoss set up for our targets. When they get torn up enough they go into the garden. We use bags of mulch and compost at times too.

[Rosie_0801]

We only use our blunts at home.

[hillfarm]

Do be careful if using plywood for a backboard for your archery target. If struck at the wrong angle, the arrow can then ricochet and zoom off at a completely unexpected angle.

 

We had an old target that was built into a plywood box on the top, bottom and sides. Once when dd was sighting in her new bow, an arrow struck the little 1/2 inch edge of the top of the target, ricocheted and hit a chicken! Actually, it was a mean rooster who had been terrorizing all our other animals and was a serious candidate for the stew pot anyway. He jumped and squawked and ran away - I think the arrow actually hit him at an oblique angle, so probably only the shaft hit him, not the point (we use target tips for target practice). He was fine the next day, and much more tolerable with a greatly subdued attitude.

 

I have also seen arrows hit wood and bounce back with great force toward the archer. So I definitely recommend caution when using wood around your targets. In our 4-H club, we require all archers to wear eye protection, as well as anyone else who moves past the ready line while the archers are shooting.

 

Regarding the hay getting wet and moldy, yes that does happen over time. Perhaps the bales of pine shavings or coconut husks or other bedding products that are used for horses (and can be found at your local feed/equine supply store) might have a longer life, but would also probably be more expensive.

[Mommyof4ks]

We have a large carpet behind the target. It is soft, so the arrows do not break, but it does stop them even if DH misses. We also have a 6' wooden fence. My 9 yr old shot over it once, but by the time it gets that far it is not a threat to anyone. It landed in the yard of the police officer that lives behind us. He was impressed ds could get it over the fence. :)

 

It sounds like a good scope might help the accuracy issue. My 3 kids and dh rarely miss the target, and it is mainly because of their sights (sp?).

[Erin]

We do 4H every year.  Buck got tired of it, but Bean still does bow.  She really likes it.  

Got Reserve champion this year in Targets and she was the youngest in her age division!  She even purpled in the "sights" division, even though she always shoots without sights.  ;)

[LMD]

my dh and older 2 shoot and each have their own bows and arrows. My oldest did a couple of terms at a kids archery club, indoor range. My dh made up some targets to use at home, ply wood and foam behind i believe. Mostly they shoot on our acreage, targets on hay bales. Dh is the one who loses the most arrows!

[HS Mom in NC]

My middle daughter (16) is a recurve competitive archer.  She has been for 4 years. 

 

CORRECTION: There is a device that's basically a metal detector for finding lost arrows out in the field. http://www.arrowrecover.com/order.html

 

She started out with cheap arrows and only shoots on ranges (indoor and outdoor.)  We have a small suburban backyard.  We have a 6ft. cinder block wall around the property but I only let her start shooting out there after she was able to hit the targets at the range every time.  A bouncing arrow over a wall can be dangerous. She hardly ever shoots in the backyard.

 

My daughter doesn't compete in nationals.  That involves traveling to a different state 3 times a year to get national ranking.  We can't afford the time or money.  Instead, she competes at the Vegas Shoot every year.  It's open to everyone in the world and you don't have to qualify, but you're grouped by age and equipment. That means people just starting and very experienced people can be grouped together, so have realistic expectations. For boys, it's incredibly competitive because you have to score almost perfectly to place in the top 3 in your division.  It's easier for girls because there are so few of them.  My daughter usually competes against 20-24 girls in her age group.  There are hundreds for the boys.

My personal experience is that most archers are not nice people.  It has a large percentage of crazy sport parents and overbearing coaches.  The kids in my daughter's coaching classes have to be trained before they go to Vegas how to ignore nasty comments and distractions by competitor's parents and how to get a coach (we meet all the AZ team coaches before we go in case our team's coaches are in another area with other team mates)  to get an official to deal with it. I've personally seen teen archers screaming obscenities at their parents and coaches, parents openly berating a child struggling with competition and coaches from different teams being nasty to each other.  We've only been to Vegas 3 times.

 

Good equipment is pricey and range fees can add up.  If your kid doesn't love it, don't invest a whole lot of time and money in it.  If they do love it, start out with the best equipment you can afford and know how much you can resell it for if you want to upgrade.  Pay close attention to the coaches.  A coach with a bad attitude is not worth the hassle.

 

If your child has aspirations to the Olympics they can't be on beta blockers. They're allowed at The Vegas Shoot. I don't know if they're allowed at nationals. My daughter is on one for a hand tremor.  They are also used for blood pressure and some are used to avoid migraines.  They don't work for her migraines.

[Bambam]

We rigged up a backstop of canvas on a metal frame with a interior of padding. We hand this from a metal bench swing frame (you know, the ones that are on clearance now at Lowes/Home Depot/etc). Since it just clips in, we remove it when it isn't being used and hang it in the garage so it won't get wet. We also made targets out of large cardboard boxes with colorful marking to indicate the real target.

 

As for lost arrows, expect them. We try to keep the grass behind the shooting arrow mowed fairly short (it is also a slightly sloping hill with a fence at the top). Still those arrows are hard to find sometime. We found one after several months (and mowings later) buried almost totally in the ground. Unfortunately it isn't recoverable, and at $5/arrow, that hurts.

[Desert Rat]

I will have to check 4H. One local store has a shooting club, but ds does need one more scheduled thing. They store has an indoor range, but when I visited -- last year -- they were very evasive about who could use it.

 

 

Og, gosh, I had better do this. I hope shooting onto the garage is ok, but maybe not.

 

 

I thought of hay/straw bales -- that is what de's scoutmaster suggested. But then I thought of them getting wet and moldy… I will look into the other ideas.

 

 

Ds is actually quite accurate. One of the stray arrows was actually when I tried the bow, lol. Plywood we have.

 

 

Probably a little premature for JOAD, but thanks for the heads up. I did not know about it.

 

On Monday, the local archery club has its meeting. I'll ask what other people do. I hope ds can do some practice at home. I am trying to move away from chauffeur-wait-chauffeur.

JOAD is for all levels- beginners to advanced. They earn pins for reaching milestones, starting at a score of 30 or 50 (out of 300). :) 

[Catwoman]

My middle daughter (16) is a recurve competitive archer. She has been for 4 years.

 

CORRECTION: There is a device that's basically a metal detector for finding lost arrows out in the field. http://www.arrowrecover.com/order.html

 

She started out with cheap arrows and only shoots on ranges (indoor and outdoor.) We have a small suburban backyard. We have a 6ft. cinder block wall around the property but I only let her start shooting out there after she was able to hit the targets at the range every time. A bouncing arrow over a wall can be dangerous. She hardly ever shoots in the backyard.

 

My daughter doesn't compete in nationals. That involves traveling to a different state 3 times a year to get national ranking. We can't afford the time or money. Instead, she competes at the Vegas Shoot every year. It's open to everyone in the world and you don't have to qualify, but you're grouped by age and equipment. That means people just starting and very experienced people can be grouped together, so have realistic expectations. For boys, it's incredibly competitive because you have to score almost perfectly to place in the top 3 in your division. It's easier for girls because there are so few of them. My daughter usually competes against 20-24 girls in her age group. There are hundreds for the boys.

 

My personal experience is that most archers are not nice people. It has a large percentage of crazy sport parents and overbearing coaches. The kids in my daughter's coaching classes have to be trained before they go to Vegas how to ignore nasty comments and distractions by competitor's parents and how to get a coach (we meet all the AZ team coaches before we go in case our team's coaches are in another area with other team mates) to get an official to deal with it. I've personally seen teen archers screaming obscenities at their parents and coaches, parents openly berating a child struggling with competition and coaches from different teams being nasty to each other. We've only been to Vegas 3 times.

 

Good equipment is pricey and range fees can add up. If your kid doesn't love it, don't invest a whole lot of time and money in it. If they do love it, start out with the best equipment you can afford and know how much you can resell it for if you want to upgrade. Pay close attention to the coaches. A coach with a bad attitude is not worth the hassle.

 

If your child has aspirations to the Olympics they can't be on beta blockers. They're allowed at The Vegas Shoot. I don't know if they're allowed at nationals. My daughter is on one for a hand tremor. They are also used for blood pressure and some are used to avoid migraines. They don't work for her migraines.

I'm just lurking on the thread because my ds enjoys archery (but not competitively -- it's just for fun.)

 

I really enjoyed your post because I didn't know much at all about the competitive side of things. After reading everything you said, I'm kind of relieved that ds never wanted to compete! :)

[Erin]

And Im glad my kid wants to stay competitive at the county, maybe state, level ONLY! lol

[Alessandra]

We only use our blunts at home.

 

Our arrows have rounded tips (thank goodness).

 

Do be careful if using plywood for a backboard for your archery target. If struck at the wrong angle, the arrow can then ricochet and zoom off at a completely unexpected angle.

 

We had an old target that was built into a plywood box on the top, bottom and sides. Once when dd was sighting in her new bow, an arrow struck the little 1/2 inch edge of the top of the target, ricocheted and hit a chicken! Actually, it was a mean rooster who had been terrorizing all our other animals and was a serious candidate for the stew pot anyway. He jumped and squawked and ran away - I think the arrow actually hit him at an oblique angle, so probably only the shaft hit him, not the point (we use target tips for target practice). He was fine the next day, and much more tolerable with a greatly subdued attitude.

 

I have also seen arrows hit wood and bounce back with great force toward the archer. So I definitely recommend caution when using wood around your targets. In our 4-H club, we require all archers to wear eye protection, as well as anyone else who moves past the ready line while the archers are shooting.

 

Regarding the hay getting wet and moldy, yes that does happen over time. Perhaps the bales of pine shavings or coconut husks or other bedding products that are used for horses (and can be found at your local feed/equine supply store) might have a longer life, but would also probably be more expensive.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Plywood idea is GONE.

 

Ds repositioned target so that it is well away from property lines; he moved himself so he is much closer to the house. Anything that misses will go into our grass.

[Alessandra]

My middle daughter (16) is a recurve competitive archer.  She has been for 4 years. 

 

CORRECTION: There is a device that's basically a metal detector for finding lost arrows out in the field. http://www.arrowrecover.com/order.html

 

Good to know, although right now ds is using fiberglass arrows. And when we stopped by the store this week all they had in his size was wooden arrows, so we now have 3 of those too.

 

She started out with cheap arrows and only shoots on ranges (indoor and outdoor.)  We have a small suburban backyard.  We have a 6ft. cinder block wall around the property but I only let her start shooting out there after she was able to hit the targets at the range every time.  A bouncing arrow over a wall can be dangerous. She hardly ever shoots in the backyard.

 

My daughter doesn't compete in nationals.  That involves traveling to a different state 3 times a year to get national ranking.  We can't afford the time or money.  Instead, she competes at the Vegas Shoot every year.  It's open to everyone in the world and you don't have to qualify, but you're grouped by age and equipment. That means people just starting and very experienced people can be grouped together, so have realistic expectations. For boys, it's incredibly competitive because you have to score almost perfectly to place in the top 3 in your division.  It's easier for girls because there are so few of them.  My daughter usually competes against 20-24 girls in her age group.  There are hundreds for the boys.

 

My personal experience is that most archers are not nice people.  It has a large percentage of crazy sport parents and overbearing coaches.  The kids in my daughter's coaching classes have to be trained before they go to Vegas how to ignore nasty comments and distractions by competitor's parents and how to get a coach (we meet all the AZ team coaches before we go in case our team's coaches are in another area with other team mates)  to get an official to deal with it. I've personally seen teen archers screaming obscenities at their parents and coaches, parents openly berating a child struggling with competition and coaches from different teams being nasty to each other.  We've only been to Vegas 3 times.

 

Good equipment is pricey and range fees can add up.  If your kid doesn't love it, don't invest a whole lot of time and money in it.  If they do love it, start out with the best equipment you can afford and know how much you can resell it for if you want to upgrade.  Pay close attention to the coaches.  A coach with a bad attitude is not worth the hassle.

 

If your child has aspirations to the Olympics they can't be on beta blockers. They're allowed at The Vegas Shoot. I don't know if they're allowed at nationals. My daughter is on one for a hand tremor.  They are also used for blood pressure and some are used to avoid migraines.  They don't work for her migraines.

 

Wow to the bolded. Archery seemed like such a genteel sport. I picture Edwardian ladies in long white dresses and floppy hats doing archery on spacious green lawns at teatime.

[Alessandra]

JOAD is for all levels- beginners to advanced. They earn pins for reaching milestones, starting at a score of 30 or 50 (out of 300). :)

 

Oh, that is more appealing. I googled JOAD places in our areas, but they are mostly hours away. Except that New York City has TONS of JOAD archery places, not what I expected. That is close to us, but I would not do it on a regular basis because of tolls and parking (about $30 and up). Maybe, with archery getting more popular, something near us will open up.

[HS Mom in NC]

I should give a complete picture of the archery communities for the sake of fairness.  There are 2 distinct groups of archers at tournaments and competitions.  The younger crowd (teens to mid 20sish) are target shooters only.  They compete shooting at stationary targets indoors or outdoors for points and medals and trophies.  This is the crowd I have described as not nice people.  This is who parents getting their kids into archery will have to be around most of the time.

 

Then there's the other crowd.  They get mixed in to tournaments.  I affectionately call them "old hunter guys." You can spot them easily by their camouflaged equipment a clothing.  They don't wear athletic shoes, they wear hiking boots or cowboy boots. They usually wear ball caps inside.  They are almost always older. They're still surprised to see women and particularly girls at competitions, but not in a bad way.  I assume it's because their generation didn't see archery as a gender neutral activity and these guys spent decades wishing their significant others would join them.  It's really sweet to see them at warm up sessions at The Vegas Shoot where everyone is mixed together.  They get very grandfatherly and want to explain everything like my daughter has never been there before.  They're very encouraging. 

I think the divide in the attitude is that old hunter guys aren't impressed with themselves when they hit a stationary, indoor target printed with bright colors.  These old guys have bow hunted caribou, elk, deer and bear that can run fast, are naturally camouflaged, and sometimes try to kill you back.  The Vegas Shoot is a fun, relaxing time for them to meet people who share an interest. They've proved themselves under much more challenging circumstances, so they have a different attitude all together.

During The Vegas Shoot the manufacturing teams ,like Hoyt and Matthews, compete and so do Olympians.  That silver medalist guy who doesn't have arms, I forget his name, is there. He sits on a stool and shoots with his feet.  The gold medalist, Brady what's his name, was there last year and spoke to the competitors about archery and life and what not. The Wounded Warriors program is there because, as I pointed out, you don't need one or two arms to shoot a bow.  We also met a legally blind archer who has all sorts of medals and his seeing eye dog. There are lots of wheelchair bound archers too.  It really is a sport for almost everyone.

Archery related businesses are there to. You can buy a custom bow, have your bow restrung in any color under the sun, buy bumper stickers and archery equipment of all kinds, and archery clothing etc.

 

One very fun thing about The Vegas Shoot (open to everyone;you don't have to qualify) is that it usually happens just before or just after the final round of The Indoor World Cup international archery competition.  We often arrive in Vegas a day before or stay a day later to watch the international teams compete. We've chatted with people from Finland, Russia and Sweden. We learned that archery is a very big sport in Mexico-they must have 5 different teams there every year.  Greece, Ukraine, Wales, Japan and other countries are there every year.  The first year we watched the girls from Russia shooting it out with girls from Ukraine. 

 

So it has its merits.  I'm glad my daughter does it, but we have to deal with crap along the way.  We have met a few nice people there, but generally, it's a crazy competitive parent sport much of the time.  I'm very glad the kids on my daughter's team are in her life and have parents who aren't insane.  Also, the coaching we have is borderline.  The coaches we have have been dating each other off and on and the female coach is a drama queen about her personal life.  The male coach has been around a lot less, but the kids are close friends and enjoy each other's company, so it could be A LOT worse.

[Alessandra]

This is fascinating! How nice to have the inside story.

 

I should give a complete picture of the archery communities for the sake of fairness.  There are 2 distinct groups of archers at tournaments and competitions.  The younger crowd (teens to mid 20sish) are target shooters only.  They compete shooting at stationary targets indoors or outdoors for points and medals and trophies.  This is the crowd I have described as not nice people.  This is who parents getting their kids into archery will have to be around most of the time.

 

They do sound awful.

 

Then there's the other crowd.  They get mixed in to tournaments.  I affectionately call them "old hunter guys." You can spot them easily by their camouflaged equipment a clothing.  They don't wear athletic shoes, they wear hiking boots or cowboy boots. They usually wear ball caps inside.  They are almost always older. They're still surprised to see women and particularly girls at competitions, but not in a bad way.  I assume it's because their generation didn't see archery as a gender neutral activity and these guys spent decades wishing their significant others would join them.  It's really sweet to see them at warm up sessions at The Vegas Shoot where everyone is mixed together.  They get very grandfatherly and want to explain everything like my daughter has never been there before.  They're very encouraging. 

 

This is the type I have met so far. The local Bowmans' club volunteers maintain an archery set up in a county park. The ones I have met are older.

 

Ds does not want to kill anything yet, but I would like to see some pheasants on the table. Of course we are a long way from that. Meanwhile ds has also stated trap shooting at a local range. I love to watch this. Moving targets just blow away statuary ones, imo. So I would tend to agree with the old guys point of view about hunting vs target shooting.

I think the divide in the attitude is that old hunter guys aren't impressed with themselves when they hit a stationary, indoor target printed with bright colors.  These old guys have bow hunted caribou, elk, deer and bear that can run fast, are naturally camouflaged, and sometimes try to kill you back.  The Vegas Shoot is a fun, relaxing time for them to meet people who share an interest. They've proved themselves under much more challenging circumstances, so they have a different attitude all together.

During The Vegas Shoot the manufacturing teams ,like Hoyt and Matthews, compete and so do Olympians.  That silver medalist guy who doesn't have arms, I forget his name, is there. He sits on a stool and shoots with his feet.  The gold medalist, Brady what's his name, was there last year and spoke to the competitors about archery and life and what not. The Wounded Warriors program is there because, as I pointed out, you don't need one or two arms to shoot a bow.  We also met a legally blind archer who has all sorts of medals and his seeing eye dog. There are lots of wheelchair bound archers too.  It really is a sport for almost everyone.

 

My goodness!!!!

Archery related businesses are there to. You can buy a custom bow, have your bow restrung in any color under the sun, buy bumper stickers and archery equipment of all kinds, and archery clothing etc.

 

One very fun thing about The Vegas Shoot (open to everyone;you don't have to qualify) is that it usually happens just before or just after the final round of The Indoor World Cup international archery competition.  We often arrive in Vegas a day before or stay a day later to watch the international teams compete. We've chatted with people from Finland, Russia and Sweden. We learned that archery is a very big sport in Mexico-they must have 5 different teams there every year.  Greece, Ukraine, Wales, Japan and other countries are there every year.  The first year we watched the girls from Russia shooting it out with girls from Ukraine. 

 

So it has its merits.  I'm glad my daughter does it, but we have to deal with crap along the way.  We have met a few nice people there, but generally, it's a crazy competitive parent sport much of the time.  I'm very glad the kids on my daughter's team are in her life and have parents who aren't insane.  Also, the coaching we have is borderline.  The coaches we have have been dating each other off and on and the female coach is a drama queen about her personal life.  The male coach has been around a lot less, but the kids are close friends and enjoy each other's company, so it could be A LOT worse.

 

We are not looking for competition AT ALL. Ds plays chess competitively, and that is enough. He finds archery fun and relaxing. I lie that it brings him outdoors, away from electronics. 

 

Your posts are so helpful in telling us what NOT to aspire to!

 

This is a local event that is more my cup of tea.

 

 

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9/11/2014as per SWB request [deleted quote from Bergen Bowmen website]